Practical use of the plan
When implemented effectively, an Explicit Teach Plan will be used differently across classrooms, depending on the student needs that emerge throughout the learning experience. When reflecting on the lesson, the teacher can:
Highlight the parts of the plan that they used with their students
Make note of any additional learning activities provided to complement the plan (Additional activity box)
Tick the summative assessment methods they used (Assessment checkbox)
Make note of any important observations, adjustments, evaluations, etc. (Registration/Evaluation box)
How long should I spend on an Explicit Teach Plan?
Each Explicit Teach Plan is designed to explore a particular Learning Intention or, in some cases, two closely related Learning Intentions and to teach an Important Understanding to students. The Explicit Teach should continue for as long as it takes for students to demonstrate competence. This will vary depending on student needs and the complexity of the content being explored. Most plans outline multiple Explicit Teach experiences (i.e. Explicit Teach 1, Explicit Teach 2), in some cases one lesson will need to be one each Explicit Teach while in other cases students might spend only a short amount of time on one Explicit Teach, before moving onto the next within the same lesson. In all cases, the teacher should determine when to move on, based on checking for student understanding throughout the lesson.
With more complex concepts, students may spend multiple lessons working through the same Explicit Teach. In most cases, it is expected that an Explicit Teach will take 1-2 days to progress through. It is intended that the teacher will progress to the next stage of the learning process once the vast majority of students (approximately 80%) demonstrate competence. If the majority of students are unable to consolidate their understanding within the intended timeframe then it may be necessary to revisit prior learning, engage students in some of the Suggested Additional Activities to Build Understanding or address less complex content through preceding Explicit Teach Plans in the Explicit Teach Sequence.
Reflection is essential!
The reflection is an essential part of the learning process, but it is not explicitly written into the plans at a particular point. The length of time devoted to each Explicit Teach Plan and the path taken through the plan will differ according to student needs as explained above. However, when the teacher determines that the students have demonstrated competence (or at the end of the allocated lesson time) they should conduct a lesson reflection. During the reflection, the teacher should present the Learning Intention using targeted questioning, mini whiteboards or other assessment tools to evaluate whether students have achieved the Learning Intention. Students should also be invited to self evaluate their attainment of the Learning Intention and their confidence with their content explored using methods such as hand signals, traffic light colours or pegs. The reflection is key in supporting the teacher to determine future directions for teaching and learning. What equipment will I need? Do I need a slideshow? While teachers will often choose to use a slideshow on an interactive whiteboard for ease of displaying the Learning Intention, Success Criteria and questions or examples, a slideshow is not essential. The Explicit Teach Plans have been designed so that in most cases they can be used without a slideshow if that is the teacher’s preference. Any necessary equipment is listed in the essential resources box on each plan and optional equipment is that which is related to optional activities or equipment that may be used for convenience.
What about stage-based and multi-stage classes?
EAST School Mathematics is stage-based in alignment with the NSW Mathematics syllabus. The EAST Mathematics Scope and Sequence facilitates the inclusion of all of the Explicit Teach Plans for the stage across the school year and ensures coverage of syllabus content for that stage. It is intended that students will work through the sequence of lessons for both years of the learning stage (e.g. in Year 1 and then again in Year 2), but the focus of the learning can be easily adapted to their changing needs through the inclusion of multiple challenge levels. For example, a Year 1 student may be working at Challenge Level 1, but when revisiting the content in Year 2, may have progressed to Challenge Level 2 or 3.
Revisiting the Explicit Teach Plans across both years of the stage also provides for retrieval practice of Important Understandings. In many cases this will allow the teacher to check that the students have retained the Important Understanding, moving more quickly through some content later in the stage than when the content was first introduced. Each Explicit Teach Plan (excluding Early Stage 1 plans) also advises how the focus of the lesson can be tightened for an earlier stage focus or a later stage focus, if necessary, for grade-based classes. The Explicit Teach Plans have been developed to include broad challenge levels because student needs are individual and student cohort needs often differ greatly, regardless of students being in the same stage group. Teachers can easily determine which Explicit Teach Plans precede or follow the current plan through the Explicit Teach Sequence so that students can access less challenging or more challenging content whenever it is needed.
What about assessment?
Summative assessment is embedded throughout the units of work and each plan contains an Assessment checkbox (Checking for Understanding) so that teachers can specify which assessment tools they have used throughout the Explicit Teach. Schools may choose to conduct additional assessments in the days/weeks where there is no Explicit Teach Plan allocated.
Why are there suggested additional activities?
In all of the Explicit Teach Plans the essential content is included in the Explicit Teach or Explore to Understand sections of the plan. In most of the plans there is also a section titled, Suggested Additional Activities to Build Understanding (During Explicit Teach with additional activities that are not essential, but that may support students in building their understanding. Where this section has been left blank, teachers can include any additional activities that they have used for students to apply their understanding post-mastery. Teachers may choose to draw on rich activities from the DoE Working Mathematically website or the DoE’s Mathematics units of work to complement the Explicit Teach Plans and record them in this section for ease of programming.
Programming for a manageable lesson load
Ensuring that there is enough time to teach concepts thoroughly is an important consideration of EAST Schools Mathematics. It is important that students have the time needed to work through each Explicit Teach plan and to consolidate their understanding. To support this the EAST Mathematics Scope and Sequence is written to accommodate approximately four days of teaching and learning time per week and includes days/weeks during which there is no Explicit Teach Plan allocated. Allocating Explicit Teach Plans in this way allows teachers to spend additional time on complex concepts or to fit their allocated content for each term around unavoidable interruptions to normal school routines.